day 2

[BruceBee]

It is day 2 of my first hive which also happens to be a TBH. Here are pictures of the hive, the swarm before hiving, and the interior of the hive after 2 days: http://www.z2a.org/photos.bees/

Anyway, after 2 days the interior looks like a big cluster. Is that normal? Are they making combs under that huge pile of bees?

[girl Mark]

Looks normal to me! isn't it a neat thing to see?

Mark

[SilverFox]

See all those white specks on the bottom, I'll bet they are wax flakes and in a very short time your cluster is gonna spread out to show off all that nice white comb. Nice pictures. Looks real nice. Are you feeding them?? Prehaps if you set out, or feed them inside, some 1:1 it might help them draw a little faster. Just an idea.
I'm jealous, no swarm calls yet, BUT it is still a bit early for them here. Haven't seen a drone yet.

[Michael Bush]

>Anyway, after 2 days the interior looks like a big cluster. Is that normal?

Yes.

> Are they making combs under that huge pile of bees?

Yes.

[BruceBee]

Wow... I read every beekeeping website I could find as well as several print book but it seems like every step of the way there are still surprises. This is fun!

> Are you feeding them??

I did put out a quart of sugar water but I'm not goig to put out anymore unless I think they're getting hungry. I'm trying to take a less-is-more approach.

[SilverFox]

Feeding them will help them to build the comb, don't worry about 'spoiling' them, when the necture flow begins they will ignore the sugar water.
You learn something new about them every day, and you will every day. That is one of the fun things about them.
Don't be to afraid to think 'outside the box'.

[size="1"][ April 05, 2006, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: SilverFox ][/size]

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/BeesOnTopBars.jpg

Heres some of mine.

[BruceBee]

Cool picture. It looks like they've got some combs going.

Thanks for your website Michael! When I saw the words "Lazy Beekeeping" in my google search results I knew I'd found something worth reading. It was through your site that I found out about TBHs. It is really cool to have bees that I caught myself in a hive that I built myself. With my limited woodworking skills I never could have built a Langstroth hive which is all I'd heard about to that point.

[D. Murrell]

Hi Brucebee,

The bees are building comb inside that cluster. Once they've got a few combs built, the cluster can expand and build comb even more rapidly than they are now.

Right now, in most climates, these bees would be very vunerable. If bad weather sets in, they could quickly run short of food. I would dump some sugar or feed them some syrup, in a feeder, in the back of the tbh. The sugar would last longer without fermenting if the bees don't need it. The syrup would be more readily available, but might ferment if not consumed quickly by the bees.

A quick look won't bother them. But I wouldn't disturb them very much for the first couple of weeks.

Thanks for sharing the photos. Neat hive. I like your cover. It's very suitable for a hotter climate than mine. I'll probably use something like that when I move to Florida. And neat bees!

Regards
Dennis

[size="1"][ April 05, 2006, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: B Wrangler ][/size]